5th March 2017

By Pitasanna Shanmugathas – Pitasanna Shanmugathas On March 4th 2017 Anton Balasingham Stanislaus would have been celebrating his 79th birthday. Within the LTTE, Anton Balasingham was the political ideologue—a man who advocated pragmatic solutions. Prabhakaran was the military mastermind. When I interviewed Erik Solheim he described their relationship “as that of a husband and wife,” always needing each other but at the same time always fighting with one another. “Together, when [Balasingham and Prabhakaran] combined their forces, they were a strong team. Separately, neither of them could lead the struggle.” Balasingham, for the latter part of his life, would spend all his energy attempting to convince Prabhakaran that the ethnic conflict can only be solved under a united Sri Lanka. A separate state was not […]

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has welcomed the report of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on the implementation of the 2015 Human Rights Council resolution, and its recommendations. Sampanthan Issuing a statement today the TNA said: “The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) welcomes the report of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on the implementation of the 2015 Human Rights Council resolution, and its recommendations. While the report acknowledges some areas of progress, such as discussions on constitutional reform, it is critical of the government’s failure to deliver with respect to a number of critical issues. The TNA shares the concerns of the Report that confidence building measures such as land releases, release of prisoners, repeal of the PTA, reform of the Victim […]

Two Sri Lankans have been arrested as part of an investigation by Canadian police into a multimillion dollar fraud and money laundering operation. Sukanya Panchalingam and Balasubramaniam Shajeefkaran, a husband-and-wife pair between the ages 28 and 36, were taken from a home in Ajax, Ontario, where Toronto police found more than CAD (Canadian dollars) eight million worth of fraudulent cheques and stolen merchandise. The investigation was led by Constable Michael Lane whose press conference on “Project Fellowship”–as it is called–was accessed online by the Sunday Times. The Toronto police confirmed both were Sri Lankans but refused to divulge their immigration status. The arrest of the couple is believed to be the tip of an investigation that is expected to reel in more members of the […]

The government and the Global Tamil Forum (GTF), a powerful Tamil diaspora group based in London, are to work together to address the Tamil issue. Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera had talks with the President of the Global Tamil Forum, Father S. J. Emmanuel, in Geneva last week. Father Emmanuel told The Sunday Leader that he met Samaraweera and a Sri Lankan delegation for about 45 minutes behind closed doors. “In all my meetings I have openly said that I do it as an act of critical and constructive collaboration by a moderate diaspora organization and me as one of the oldest victims and witnesses of this conflict right from June 1956. Hence our exchanges are about helping one another,” he said. Father Emmanuel also said that while […]

“Puthukkudiyiruppu land matter has been resolved. The land is to be returned in 3 stages the first stage on 4th March and the second and third stages in a few months. The commitments made should be honoured.” says Leader of the Opposition R. Sampanthan. Maithripala and Sampanthan | File photo Sending a letter to the President, Samapanthan said: “In view of possession being handed over at Kepepulavu – Pillaikudiyiruppu – The persons who were demonstrating against being kept out of their lands, have called off their demonstration. I am particularly thankful to you and other authorities for the expeditious action taken to hand back this land.” We publish below the letter in full: His Excellency President Maithripala Sirisena President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka […]

Anbumani Ramadoss on Saturday asked the Union government to take the issue to the UN security council to ensure justice for Tamils. Chennai: Citing the report of United Nations Human Rights Commissioner Zeid Raad Al Hussein accusing Sri Lanka of failing to comply with the commission’s resolutions for hybrid mechanism to probe the war crimes and return of army occupied lands to Tamils, PMK youth wing leader Anbumani Ramadoss on Saturday asked the Union government to take the issue to the UN security council to ensure justice for Tamils. The high commissioner had stated that the island government is very slow in implementing the UNHCR resolutions and the ministers are speaking in different voices about them. The laws of the Lankan government should be amended […]

by Rajan Philips It is now nine years since Sri Lanka began its pilgrimage to Geneva to attend the annual sessions of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). For the first six years, it was all confrontational with the Rajapaksa government taking aggressive positions against UNHRC resolutions and trying in vain to mobilize votes among the 47 members of the Council to oppose resolutions sponsored by western countries. It has been all conciliatory under the Sirisena-Wickremasinghe government that took office after the defeat of President Rajapaksa in the January 2015 presidential election. Rather than mobilizing opposition, the government co-sponsored a new resolution at the October 2015 UNHRC session. This week, in Geneva, Foreign Minister Mangala Samarweera asked for and is being generously given two […]

By Easwaran Rutnam The government may seek support to dilute a controversial clause in a resolution which was passed in 2015, when a follow-up resolution on Sri Lanka is presented to the UN Human Rights Council during the ongoing session in Geneva. Government sources said that discussions will be held to get the support of UN Human Rights Council members to bring down the pressure to implement the clause in Resolution 30/1 which calls for the participation of Commonwealth and other foreign judges in a Sri Lankan judicial mechanism when investigating the war. President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had said last week that Sri Lanka will not have foreign judges or a hybrid system in the accountability process but international human rights […]